Construction panel



May 3, 1960 H. A. BERLINER 2,934,934

CONSTRUCTION PANEL Filed June 6, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet l May 3, 1960 H. A.BERLINER CONSTRUCTION PANEL 2 sheets-sheet 2 Filed June '6, 1957ATTORNEYS CGNSIRUCTION PANEL Henry A.. Berliner, Washington, D.C.Application June 6, 1957, Serial No. 664,141

2 Claims. (Cl. 'l2-40) This application is a continuation-impart of mycopending application Serial No. 382,677, tiled September 28, 1953, nowabondoned, for Pre-Fabricated Building Construction Panel.

This invention relates broadly to the art of building construction and,more particularly, provides a new and improved pre-fabricated panel foruse in such construction.

It has heretofore been proposed, and is now well known, to provideapre-fabricated panel for building construction purposes consisting of aflat block of cementitious material, with or without a surrounding frameof metal or other material, having rods, wire mesh or members of otherforms and shapes embedded therein for the purpose of reinforcing thecementitious material.l These known panels are connected in various waysto provide a wall, ceiling or other building surface and, when soerected and connected, the reinforced cementitious material itself bearsany compression, bending, shear and other loads imposed on the panel oron the building surface of which it forms a part. In such a panel theembedded reinforcing means merely performs the usual function ofreinforcing and tying together the cementitious material and onlyincidentally and to a minor degree does it support loads imposed on thepanel or on the building construction of which the panel forms a part.

The structural panel provided by my present invention differs entirelyand fundamentally from such known panels. By this invention there isprovided a pre-fabricated building construction panel comprising ametallic structure which itself supports substantially all of thecompressive, bending, shear and other loads imposed on the panel or onthe building construction of which it forms a part. This load bearingstructure is completed and made into a finished panel by the provisionof a cast body of lightweight, low strength, heat insulating,cementitious material which embeds and covers part of the structuralmember, thus forming an impervious block or panel. Additionally, a layerof high strength, impervious, cementitious material may be added to oneor both surfaces of the low strength, light weight cementitious materialin order to make the panel impervious to moisture and, resistant tomechanical action. If desired, a layer of ornamental material, such ascrushed stone, paint, tile or the like may be placed on one or bothexterior surfaces of the panel.

f It will be understood from the foregoing statement and from thefollowing specification that the principal object of the invention hasbeen to provide a construction panel comprising a unitary, metallic loadbearing structure which is completed to the usual form and appearance ofa construction panel by the -addition of cementitious material which isnot intended or designed to support a material part of any load to whichthe panel is subjected and which serves principally to complete thepanel by embedding the structural member.

Other objects and features of novelty of the invention will be madeapparent by the following description and f 1,. s 2,934,934 Patented May3, 1960 the annexed drawings which are only illustrative of theinvention and impose no limitation thereon not imposed by the appendedclaims.

In the drawings forming part of this application,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a building construction panelconstructed in accordance with my invention, with parts thereof brokenaway;

Figs. 2 and 3 are sectional views taken on lines 2-2 and 3-3 of Fig. l,respectively;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the connection of adjacent panelshaving the construction shown in Figs. l, 2 and 3 to form a wall orother part of a building structure;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing a modified form of the panelillustrated in Fig. l;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view showing a preferred form of panel accordingto the invention;

Fig. 7 is a perspective View of the complete panel shown in section inFig. 6, with parts broken away, and

Fig. 8 is a sectional and perspective view of a modified form of thepanel illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7.

By the present invention l provide a pre-fabricated panel for use in theconstruction of any structure such, for example, as residential,commercial, industrial or other buildings. These panels may be entirelysolid and a number of them are adapted and intended to be con nected andjoined together in co-planar or intersecting relation to form a wall,partition, roof, ceiling or other part of a structure. The panelprovided by the invention comprises, in general, a structural memberwhich is intended to support substantially all of the loads to which thepanel may be subjected when the panel is used as part of a structure,and a body of cast, light weight, low strength, heat insulating,cementitious material in which at least a part of the structural memberis embedded to complete the panel. In all embodiments of the inventionthe structural member comprises a corrugated metal sheet and in certainembodiments the structural member comprises the corrugated metal sheetand a metal frame surrounding and connected to the corrugated sheet. Inall embodiments the corrugated sheet is wholly or partially embedded ina cementitious material having the physical characteristics set forthabove and which has negligible strength, either in compression, bending,shear or otherwise, and which provides insulation against heat. Thiscementitious material may be one of the light weight, low strengthaggregates such as perlite, vermiculite, pumice, or an aerated heavieraggregate, bonded by a binder which may, if desired, be cement. Suchcementitious materials are very susceptible to abrasion and othermechanical action and, accordingly, one or both of the two exteriorsurfaces of the panel may have at least one coating of a hard,cementitious or other material which is impervious to moisture and ishighly resistant to mechanical action.

In Figs. l, 2 and'3 of the drawings there is illustrated one embodimentof a panel member formed in accordance with my invention. This panel Acomprises a structural member'Z formed of a corrugated metal sheet whichis embedded in a block 4 formed of a very light weight cementitiousmaterial such as those referred to above. The structural member 2 iscompletely embedded within the block 4 except at oppositeedges thereofwhere it protrudes from the block, as shown at 6. Each of the two facesof the panel, which are the outer and inner faces when the panel forms apart of one of the walls of nishing compound incorporating an inertorganic ller, or a waterproofing paint containing a metallic oxide andhaving a Portland cement base, or various plastics such as Vinylite, ora fibrous material covered with waterproof: paint.

In: all'embodiments of the invention at tile blocks may be embedded ineither or both of theexterior surfaces' of the panel with their outersurfaces in the plane of the outer surface of the panel, thus forming ahard and ornamental exterior surface. Such tiles may be so embedded inaccordance with the method disclosed in my' co-pending applicationSerial No. 570,913 led March 12, 1956, now Patent No. 2,839,812 forMethod of Manu-v facturing a Structural Panel.

The structural member Z has holes l2 in the wdls'y These holes increasethe of the Vcorrugations thereof.V bond between the structural memberand the cementitious material 4A andk also importantly, permit .thecementitious material to be cast from one side or" the corrugatedstructural member without the formation of air pockets under thecorrugations, thus insuring that a complete and homogeneous panel willbe formed.

The use of panels according to the invention to form a wall or othersurface is illustrated in Fig. 4, in which there are shown two panels Awhich are disposed in coplanar relation to form a wall or other part ofa structurc. These adjacent panels are connected by interlitting theprotruding parts 6 ofthe two panels and connecting them by welding,riveting or otherwise. lt will be apparent' that, in order to interiitthe corrugated protruding endV parts 6' of two panels, those of onepanel must be made slightly smaller than those of the other panel andsuch a relation of sizes is shown in Fig. 4. After the exposed edges ofithe structural members of adjacent panels are connected together thespace between the cast parts ofiadjac'ent panels and outside of theconnected protruding'.y parts 6 may be filled with grouting flush to theouter surfaces' o-f the panels to form continuous exterior surfaces. Thegroutingshown at 2t) in Fig. 4 is illustrative ofrsuc'h filling. it willbe apparent that the protruding parts 6 may be butt' welded or connectedin any other suitable` manner, in which case the corrugated structuralmembers of all panels may he made the same size.

In' Fig. 5 of the drawings there is disclosed a panel having'y theconstruction described hereinbefore as being provided by this invention,but in which the protruding end parts- 6 at one or both ends of thestructural mem ber 2, are capped or'covered by elongated members 21which are U-shaped in cross-section and which extend throughout' theentire width' of the panel. The protruding ends 6 are connected to thesecap members by welding, riveting or otherwise and the structural member2 and the cap members 21 therefore form a unitary structural memberintended, designed and constructedV to bear substantially all of allloads to which the panel is subjected in use. The space between eachprotruding end 6 and the connected cap member is filled with thelightweight, low strength, cementitious material which forms theremainder of the panel. It will be apparent that two or more cappedpanels, such as that disclosed in` Fig. 5, may be connected end-toend bywelding or riveting together the abutting walls of the cap members.

In Figs. 6 and 7 of the drawings there is disclosed a preferredembodiment of the invention comprising, as in other embodiments, a loadbearing structural member and cementitious material which embeds thestructural member and, with the structural member, forms a completepanel ready for erection to form part' of! a building. The structural,load bearing member of this panel comprises a surrounding metallic frame30, which may be rectangular in plan, which is C-shaped incross-section, having a peripheral, preferably flat wall 32 and flanges34, 36 extending inwardly of the panel from the edges of the wall 32.Within this peripheral frame there is disposed a corrugated metal sheet3S which is of Vsuch size,

in plan, that its peripheral edges preferably engage the inner surfaceof the peripheral wall 32 of the frame mernf ber 30 and are connectedthereto by welding or in any other suitable manner. The thickness of thecorrugated sheet 38, i.e., the depth of the corrugations thereof, isless than the distance between the inner surfaces of the inturnedflanges 34, 36. Thus, as shown in Fig. 6, one peripheral surface of thesheetV 3S rests, or substantially rests, one one flange 36 While theopposite surface of the sheet 33 is spaced inwardly ofthe inner surfaceof the second iiange 34. Two sheets 46, 42 ofwire mesh, which may beheavy chicken wire, cover the two surfaces of the corrugated sheet 3Sand each may be welded or otherwise fastenedV to the. corrugated sheetat spaced points. These two wire mesh sheets may be of such size thattheir peripheral parts extend into the C-shaped peripheral frame 30 and,in such case, such parts may be welded to the flanges 34, 36 of theframe. The corrugated sheet 38 is embeddedl in a body 46 of lightweight,

low strength, cementitious. material,` such as one of, theV materialsdescribedV above; which completely fills the. sul'- rounding frame 30and completely embeds the struc-A tural member 38, and the exteriorsurfaces of which are preferably flush with the outer surfaces-offlanges 34, 36. A layer 50 of hard, strength, impervious cement orconcrete is formed integrally with the cementitious body 46Y by beingcast substantially simultaneously with, or justbefore, the body 46. Thislayer 50 extends outwardly of the flange 36 preferably to have athickness' substantially'equal to the spacing of the one surface ofcorrugated sheet 38 from the adjacent ange 34, and the layer 50preferably covers the entire one surface of cementitious body 33 betweenthe inner edges. of iianges 36. The ex.- terior surface of layer Silforms the exterior surface of the. panel andi may be ornamented in anyway if this is desired. The finished panel, which is disclosed insection.

in Fig; 6, is shown in perspective` view in Fig. 7 with parts brokenaway.

The surrounding frame member 3i) and the enclosed corrugated sheet 38,which engages and is attached to the frame, form a substantially unitarystructural memher designed', intended and constructed to supportsubstantially all of any compressive, bending, shear or other loads towhich thepanel may be subjected in use. The frame member and thecorrugated sheet may be formed of sheet metal of gauges which will besufficient to give the strength required for any intended use.

In a furtherY form which the invention may take the corrugated sheet isof substantially the same depth or thickness as the distance between theinner surfaces of the li'anges of the peripheral frame. This embodimentof Ithe invention 'is disclosed in Fig. 8 of the drawings andV comprisesthe C-shaped peripheral frame 36, having @he outer wall 32 andV flanges34, 36 and' the corrugated metal sheet 60, the thickness of which, i.e.,the depth of its corrugations, istsuch that the peripheral parts of theopposite edges of the sheet, with the connected sheet 64 of wire mesh,engage the inner surfaces of the flanges. The frame is entirely filledwith a cast, light weight, low strength cementitious material 66 to alevel substantially flush with the outer surfaces of the flanges. Anadditional layer 70 of high strength, hard, cementitious material isadded to one or both of the surfaces of the body of low strengthcementitious material 66, as shown in Fig. 8, in order to provide asurface having a high resistance to mechanical action and imperviousnessto moisture.

It will be apparent that panels formed in accordance with thisVinvention may have window, door or other openings therein, while otherswill have no openings whatever. Panels forrned in accordance with thisinvention may be manufactured in a central location or on the job andin. standard stock sizes or in accordance with individualspecifications. Because of the lightness in weight of the panels due tothe use of very light Weight f will be utilized.

aggregate materials in combination with a structural member embedded inthe aggregate and intended to take all loads, the panels may be ezsilyand cheaply transported from a central location at which they aremanufactured to the construction site and may be easily and quicklyerected.

Obviously, panels formed in accordance with my invention may be used asthe interior or exterior walls of a building. As they may bemanufactured to a great variety of standard specifications, or toindividual design, they may be used in various combinations to providean almost infinite number of arrangements or appearances.

l It will be understood that in the use of a panel formed in accordancewith my invention, the panel may be so erected that the corrugations ofthe structural member extend either vertically or horizontally,depending on the requirements of the job. Preferably, however, the panelis so erected that the corrugations extend vertically so that themaximum load bearing strength of the panel It is preferred that thecorrugations in the structural member be rectangular in cross-sectionalshape but that they may have any other desired crosssectional shape.

While I have described and illustrated certain embodiments of myinvention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that otherembodiments, as well as modifications of those disclosed, may be madeand practiced without departing in any way from the spirit or scope ofthe invention for the limits of which reference must be had to theappended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A pre-fabricated building construction panel comprising a surroundingmetallic frame which is C-shaped in cross-section having a flat outerperipheral wall and flanges extending inwardly of the panel from theopposite edges of the wall, a metal sheet having corrugations extendingin the direction of said flanges disposed within said frame with itsperipheral edges in engagement with the inner surface of said wallwhereby said frame and corrugated sheet form a load-bearing structuralmember, the corrugations of said sheet being of such a depth that theperipheral part of one surface of said sheet engages the inner surfaceof one of said flanges and the peripheral part of the other surface ofsaid sheet is spaced from the inner surface of the other flange, a bodyof low strength, light weight cementitious material embedding saidcorrugated sheet and filling said surrounding frame, and a second bodyof high strength cementitious material integrally connected to the firstbody of cementitious material and extending over one entire exteriorsurface thereof between the edges of the flange surrounding saidexterior surface.

2. A pre-fabricated building construction panel comprising a surroundingmetallic frame which is C-shaped in cross-section having a flat outerperipheral wall and anges extending inwardly of the panel from theopposite edges of the wall, a metal sheet having corrugations extendingin the direction of said flanges disposed within said frame with itsperipheral edges in engagement with the inner surface of said wallwhereby said frame and corrugated sheet form a load-bearing structuralmember, the corrugations of said sheet being of such a depth that theperipheral part of one surface of said sheet engages the inner surfaceof one of said flanges and the peripheral part of the other surface ofsaid sheet is spaced from but adjacent the inner surface of the otherflange, a body of low strength, light weight cementitious materialembedding said corrugated sheet to the opposite surfaces thereof andfilling said surrounding frame, and a second body of high strengthcementitous material integrally connected to the rst body ofcementitious material and extending over one entire exterior surfacethereof between the edges of the flange surrounding said exteriorsurface and extending outside of the outer surfaces of the angesadjacent-said exterior surface.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,410,923 Johnston Mar. 28, 1922 1,645,214 Barratt Oct. l1, 19271,892,498 Adams Dec. 27, 1932 1,945,124 Strauss Jan. 30, 1934 2,035,595Crowe Mar. 31, 1936 2,142,305 Davis Jan. 3, 1939 2,151,148 Plumb Mar.21, 1939 2,154,619 Hurley Apr. 18, 1939 2,220,349 Plumb Nov. 5, 19402,338,246 Hoge Jan. 4, 1944 2,575,758 Herd Nov. 20, 1951 2,616,283Branstrator Nov. 4, 1952

